WEST BRATTLEBORO — Singer-songwriters Reggie Harris and Greg Greenway will appear in concert at All Souls’ Church on Saturday, April 14th, at 7 p.m. with their joint production, “Deeper Than The Skin – Building Bridges with Music” addressing the racial divide.
Longtime friends and collaborators, Harris and Greenway put their experiences together in “Deeper Than The Skin,” a concert presentation that explores their unique history as a white man from the capital of the Confederacy and a black man whose maternal ancestor was a slave on a plantation just outside of Richmond. They have built a bridge between their lives through 30 years of friendship, shared goals, and a passion to build community.
The concert will be interactive with plenty of opportunities for the audience to sing along. There will be time at the end for discussion.
Ticket prices range from $25 to $5, but organizers emphasize that no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Tickets are available at Everyone’s Books on Elliot Street in Brattleboro and online at deeperthantheskin.brownpapertickets.com and at the door.
Both Harris and Greenway have roots in the area along the James River in Virginia. Born three days apart, they are on a pilgrimage together. The racial divisions that are the reality of America started them in two different worlds, but the amazing bonds of music, mutual respect, sheer admiration, and shared vision have brought them together as friends and colleagues.
Their stories together form the quintessential American story. The music that flowed from their experiences is powered by unadorned truth, raw and riveting, beautiful and uplifting. Echoing Gandhi, they believe that in telling our truths, we are able to rise up from the past and build bridges to the each other and the future.
A well-traveled performer, lecturer and cultural ambassador, Harris has earned wide acclaimed and respect from peers and audiences alike throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe and around the world. He combines spirituals and roots music, historic inspiration and moving original songs, often in the themes of unity and social justice
Harris is a Woodrow Wilson Scholar and the music education director of the Living Legacy Project of the Unitarian Universalist Association. He co-leads tours through the historic sites of the Civil Rights movement in the South. Solo, and in the duo Kim and Reggie Harris he has led hundreds of programs on race and social justice.
Greenway has become one of folk music’s most unique and superlative emissaries. His “In the Name of Love,” a lead in to the U2 classic, “Pride,” was the #5 song on the Folk DJ list in 2013. It has become a defining piece on his journey to becoming an international artist capable of addressing sensitive topics like race. Greenway does this in a way that connects audiences to their humanity while entertaining them at the same time.
One third of the successful folk trio, Brother Sun, Greenway has been heard on NPR’s All Things Considered, Mountain Stage and even Car Talk. He has played Carnegie Hall and had the honor for two years of having his song, “Rosa Parks,” play when rosaparks.org was opened.
